Dozens charged after vegan protest shuts down CBD intersection
Three teenagers are among the dozens charged over a vegan protest which shut down a major CBD intersection yesterday. Taxpayers will foot the hefty bill for the protest that caused peak-hour chaos.
VIC News
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Dozens of vegan protesters are facing up to five years behind bars after being charged with obstructing emergency workers.
Yesterday’s peak-hour rally closed down one of the city’s busiest intersections for more than three hours, and obstructing an emergency worker carries a maximum five year jail-term.
Forty people have been charged with a total of 122 offences, including assaulting police.
Three teenagers, two 17-year-olds and a 15-year-old, are among those charged.
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It comes after the activists blocked the Flinders and Swanston intersection yesterday morning — including by chaining themselves to slogan-covered vans parked in the middle of the road — before being forcibly removed by police.
Of those arrested, 38 are charged with obstructing an emergency worker, obstructing the road and pedestrian obstruct path of driver.
One protester has also been charged with possessing a drug of dependence.
Another person is charged with four offences including assaulting police at the Melbourne Aquarium, where protesters were yesterday filmed chaining themselves together at the main entrance to the tourist attraction.
All adults charged have been bailed to appear at Melbourne Magistrates Court on June 5, and the teenagers bailed to appear at a children’s court on June 6.
The charges come after it was revealed taxpayers would foot the hefty bill for the protest.
Police sources said the rally would have cost tens of thousands of dollars in resources.
Premier Daniel Andrews has hit out at vegans who trespassed on farms yesterday, but said it was pointless to chase money for security costs from CBD protesters.
Mr Andrews said he believed laws were strong enough to crack down on vegans who went on to private property, but that his government would take advice from Victoria Police if new powers were needed.
“Peaceful protest is an important part of our democratic system and I’ll defend people’s right to make their point,” Mr Andrews said.
“But I don’t know that they (vegans) served their interests very well yesterday in completely disrupting the city, and for what?
“Who police charge is a matter for them. This is just unnecessary, completely disruptive, potentially unsafe, and in terms of trespass in terms of coming on to someone’s property, those are matters I’m sure Victoria police will look at very very carefully.”
It started around 7am, when activists armed with signs and banners reading “vegan rising” and “this is a peaceful protest” blocked the road, with some chaining themselves to three slogan-covered vehicles.
“The main message is the dire straights the animals are in, the planet and humanity,” protester Sally said.
“We’d like a vegan world,” the woman, who did not want her last name published, added.
It took three hours to clear the scene as police removed each protester and used tools to cut through the heavy chains.
Hundreds of trams were unable to pass through the intersection, traffic and ambulances were diverted and commuters affected by this month’s rail construction blitz were further delayed until trams resumed around 10.15am.
One commuter, Jerrie Bise, said the protest meant she was 45 minutes late to work.
“I think people are entitled to their views but they shouldn’t affect other people’s lives,” she said.
“Because of them St Kilda Rd has been blocked all the way.”
The hardcore vegan activists later went on to target the nearby Melbourne Aquarium, chaining themselves together using PVC pipe at the main entrance.
Car rental agency Thrifty Australia “condemned in the strongest possible terms” the activists’ use of the company’s vans.
“It is alleged that the vans have been chained, defaced and the tyres slashed,” Thrifty said in a statement.
“Obviously, the protesters are in clear breach of their terms and conditions and Thrifty will take all steps to recoup the costs and enforce our terms and conditions.”
FORCE POWERLESS TO BILL PROTESTERS
Senior law enforcement sources said the cost of officers having to police the protest would have run into tens of thousands of dollars.
But the force would not comment on how much the protest cost and said it had little power to bill protesters because it was not a commercial event.
Organisers of events, such as talks by right-wing speaker Milo Yiannopoulos, have previously been billed as much as $50,000.
General duties and traffic police were diverted to the scene to ensure the safety of protesters and members of the public as the protest unfolded.
The officers were pulled away from patrolling and investigating crimes in the city for a number of hours as they managed the protests.
Police put up roadblocks while officers from the Victoria Police Public Order Response Team were called in.
Superintendent David Clayton was disappointed by the protesters’ failure to tell police about their planned CBD protest beforehand.
“The lack of prior engagement is really disappointing. It places the community at risk and impacts on the safety of the CBD,” he told reporters.
“There would have been many people who could not access vital services across the CBD because of this protest activity.
“My personal view is I think it’s harmed their cause, but that is a matter for the community to determine.”
Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt said: “We know that these types of demonstrations not only waste hundreds of hours of police time and divert them from other critical tasks, they also significantly disrupt the general business of ordinary Victorians.
“Disrupting Melbourne’s busiest intersection not only impedes ordinary Victorians, it limits access to emergency services such as fire, ambulance and police.”
The premier said the CBD action that shut down the Flinders St intersection was a “deeply disruptive protest” that didn’t enhance the groups’ cause, but that their action was not likely to result in financial penalties for those who sparked security responses.
Mr Andrews also confirmed plans to attend the Australian Council of Trade Unions “change the rules” rally tomorrow, which will be based on last year’s rally that shut down city streets to protest against low wages.
NATIONWIDE DISRUPTIONS
The demonstrations were part of vegan protests in Victoria, NSW, Tasmania and Queensland, with activists also gathering outside several Victorian abattoirs.
Allison, who works at the Westside Meat abattoir at Bacchus Marsh, earlier told the Herald Sun “they’ve got a truck and they’re just sitting there”.
Meanwhile, a dozen protesters and a van promoting an animal rights documentary blocked the entrance to an abattoir in Corio, near Geelong.
M.C Herd Meat Wholesales workers were forced to park their cars at the entrance of the site because of the protest.
Protesters could be seen holding signs promoting the 2018 documentary Dominion, which includes hidden camera and aerial footage of animal agriculture processes.
The G & K O’Connor abattoir at Pakenham also confirmed protesters and police were at the site.
It comes after the owners of a Gippsland goat farm cafe blamed “abusive vegan activists” for its closure.
The Gippy Goat cafe co-owner Penny Gandar said constant harassment since dozens of animal activists invaded the property just before Christmas led to the decision.
Over the weekend, vegan group Aussie Farms said hundreds of people would be staging protests on Monday, but the exact locations were being kept secret.
“It is time for an informed national conversation about what we’re doing to animals,” Dominion director Chris Delforce said in a statement.
“Industry and government have been desperately trying to frame this as an issue of farmers vs. vegans, or farmers as victims, to keep the animals out of the conversation.”
Those angered by the disruption flooded a Facebook page for the protest and other online sites with pictures of a “delicious beef and bacon pie”, roasts and hamburgers.
Mr Delforce, founder of the Aussie Farms activist group, said animal agriculture was inherently cruel. “There is no way to humanely kill something that doesn’t want to be killed,” he said.
WIDESPREAD CONDEMNATION GROWS
Victorian government minister Jaala Pulford labelled the protesters “pretty irresponsible” and said it was “not an effective way to be making this point”.
Ms Pulford, who was the agriculture minister until the end of last year, said Victoria’s animal industries “apply world’s best practice” to their operations and have “a very deep commitment to animal welfare”.
“I don’t know if there’s a cause that ever gained more supporters by making people late to work,” she said.
Fellow minister Jacinta Allan said the activists had a right to protest, but that it was “obviously frustrating” for commuters.
Opposition agriculture spokesman Peter Walsh called for the introduction of tougher penalties to stop this form of aggressive vegan activism.
He said he did not believe the 38 people arrested on Monday would face appropriate penalties for their actions.
“I unfortunately don’t think the courts will deal with them very strongly at all,” Mr Walsh said.
Meanwhile, the president of the Victorian Farmers Federation Livestock Group, Leonard Vallance, blasted what he said was “a very small percentage of the population telling a very large percentage of the population what they can and can’t eat”.
“(Meat is) a legitimate business. People want to eat meat and it has to be slaughtered and processed somewhere,” he added.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud also got stuck into the activists.
The PM labelled the protests “shameful” and “un-Australian” on 2GB radio.
Mr Littleproud said “fair-minded Australians find this behaviour extreme“.
“I continue to call for calm. Invading people’s properties is not the Australian way,” he said.
Federal Attorney-General Christian Porter wrote to the Privacy Commissioner asking her to consider an investigation into Aussie Farms under the Privacy Act.
Mr Porter has also written to state and territory attorneys-general and police ministers asking them to consider strengthening their criminal trespass laws.
“I suggest all jurisdictions consider increasing penalties for criminal trespass, particularly as this offence relates to trespass on farmland and that further consideration be given to a nationally consistent approach to instituting an aggravated form of trespass and unlawful entry where it is conducted recklessly with the outcome of causing commercial damage to a relevant agricultural enterprise,” he said.
— With Georgie Moore, Tom Minear and James Dowling
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